


Two Steps Forward

by cordeliadelayne



Series: Reconnection [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Blow Jobs, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Hand Jobs, Light Angst, M/M, POV Phil Coulson, Season/Series 02, Slash, everybody needs a hug, ignores the barton farm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 03:26:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4124004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After everything they've been through the chance for a bit of downtime is more than welcome. Naturally it doesn't last long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Steps Forward

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place near the end of SOS Part 2. Spoilers for the whole of season 2 of Agents of SHIELD and Age of Ultron though ignores the whole farm thing, for obvious reasons.

“I seem to remember a conversation, not all that long ago, where you talking to me before you did anything crazy was, you know, a thing we did.”

Coulson looked up from his coffee, an apology trapped somewhere in the back of his throat. His filters were all shot to hell and whatever expression his face was sporting made Clint hurriedly drop next to him and place a hand on his knee.

“Are you okay?” Clint asked.

“I'm...holding it together.”

Clint traced a finger along the edge of Coulson's sling. “You will keep insisting on saving the world.”

“I could say the same to you,” Coulson replied. Mindful that the diner they were in was half-full, he lifted up Clint's t-shirt and traced the edges of his perfectly healed wound. “I can feel the difference.”

Clint snorted. “Of course you can.”

The waitress interrupted them and Clint ordered more coffee and three slices of cherry pie. Coulson didn’t bat an eye.

“How's the team?” Clint asked.

“Still standing. More or less. I don't think I can expect much more from them right now. We all need to regroup, preferably before the next crisis hits.”

“You realised you've just cursed that, right?”

Coulson almost smiled. “Yes, probably. How are the...” He paused as the waitress came back with their order, “rest of your team?”

“Doing pretty good. Cap and Nat are training the new recruits and Stark's gone off on a sabbatical with Pepper.” He pulled his coffee towards him and started adding cream and sugar. “Banner's gone AWOL though.”

Coulson's shoulders twitched. “Are you telling me because I asked or because the Director of SHIELD needs to do something?”

Clint took a sip of coffee. “Both?” he asked. “I'm not worried about him going on a destruction binge or anything but...”

“You are worried?”

Clint nodded and Coulson moved his good hand to Clint's wrist, moving a finger slowly over the pulse point.

“Ugh, you two are weirdly cute,” Skye said, dropping into the booth opposite them. “This for me?” she asked, pointing towards the third slice of pie. Clint nodded and she took a large bite.

“When was the last time you ate?” Coulson asked her.

“Pot, kettle,” she said around a mouthful of pie.

Clint gave Coulson an assessing gaze.

“I’ve been busy!” Coulson said. Clint pushed Coulson's pie towards him and waited until he took a bite before turning towards Skye.

“How you doing, kiddo?”

“Well, my mom's dead, my dad doesn't have any idea who I am, my SO has gone on a long vacation and my boss has only one good arm. Could be worse.”

Clint grinned. “Yeah, at least no one on your team created a murder bot.”

Skye saluted him with her fork.

“I didn't have the chance to say over the phone,” Clint said, shifting closer to Coulson. “Thank you. If Fury hadn't got that helicarrier to us...” He trailed off. Pietro's death still stung.

Coulson nodded and wished they were alone. All he wanted to do right now was press himself into Clint, hold him down and...he drew himself back to reality with a jolt. With one arm out of commission he wasn't going to be pinning anyone down any time soon.

Clint pressed a light kiss to Coulson's furrowed brow. “Any chance you guys don't have to head off straight away?”

Coulson was about to dismiss the idea out of hand when he paused. Skye seized at the moment.

“One day won't hurt,” she said. “And it will give me a chance to make sure Cal's really okay. Plus, you've been handling the whole Mack chopping your hand off way too well. You definitely need to get laid.”

Clint nearly choked on his pie. “Oh, I _really_ like you.”

She smiled, pleased, and then turned a softer smile on Coulson.

“One night,” he told her. “Provided you never, ever, mention my sex life again.”

“Deal.” She pulled out her tablet and after a few minutes Coulson's cell buzzed. “I've asked for different floors, so be as loud as you like,” she said.

Coulson gave an exaggerated sigh. “What did I just...”

He trailed off as Skye gathered up her bag and started scooting out of the booth. “I'm going to get Fitz and Simmons a souvenir for the office. Meet here at twelve?”

“Ten,” Coulson said as Clint said “eleven.”

“10.30 it is,” Skye said, disappearing out the front before Coulson could disagree. With Clint looking at him like he was something precious, Coulson supposed a lie-in wouldn't do them any harm.

“Come on,” Clint said. He snagged Coulson's cell and looked up the hotel address. “Only ten minutes away. How about we go check in and I give you a massage.”

Coulson felt a sliver of tension leave him. “Best idea I've heard in a while.”

* * * * *

The hotel proved to be a small family run affair, with modern furnishings that easily matched the old world décor. No one batted an eye as he and Clint checked in and when they reached their room Coulson was almost tempted to join Clint as he wolf-whistled at the size of the bed.

“Skye did good,” Clint said. He moved over to the window. “And check out this view.”

“I prefer the view from right here,” Coulson said.

Clint turned around. “Yeah?” he slowly started unbuttoning his shirt. “How's the view now?”

“Getting better,” Coulson said. He dropped his bag to the floor and moved closer to Clint, pressing a kiss to his jaw. “I wish I could help with that.”

Coulson took a step back but Clint pulled him into a kiss before he could get too far away. It was the first time Coulson had allowed himself to acknowledge in Clint's presence that there were things he couldn't do now.

“You know I don't care, right?” Clint asked.

“I know.”

Coulson sat on the edge of the bed and Clint joined him.

“It's not going to be permanent, anyway,” Coulson said.

“Yeah?” Clint asked, raising an eyebrow.

Coulson shifted uncomfortably. “You of all people...” he said, motioning vaguely at Clint's stomach.

“Okay,” Clint agreed. “But you know you can't pin your hopes on any of that right? And even if...whatever way you fix it, you have to adjust to what your body is capable of right now, not in the future.”

“I know that.”

“Do you?”

“ _Clint._ Can we not. Not right now.”

“We're postponing the conversation. Not shelving it for good,” Clint said. “And only because I really want your cock in my mouth.”

That startled a laugh out of Coulson who didn't resist as Clint gently moved him to lie back on the bed and started carefully undressing him. Already half hard it didn’t take Clint long to drop to his knees and have Coulson nearly incoherent with pleasure.

“Clint, Clint,” he muttered like a mantra. Suddenly it wasn't enough though, he wanted to see Clint's face, _needed_ to see it. “Here, up here,” he panted and he was grateful that Clint didn't question it, just moved with the fluid grace of a cat to lie down next to him and kiss him, his hand on Coulson's cock easily replacing his mouth.

“Love you,” Coulson said, twisting enough so that he could fumble with Clint's belt. Clint just kissed him harder. These last few weeks they'd come so close to losing each other all over again and they both knew they'd need more time to process that alone before they had an actual conversation about it. If they ever did.

Coulson cursed in frustration. “I can't – I can't,” he said, his one good arm feeling like a dead weight as he tried to undress Clint. Clint gently shushed him and Coulson took a deep breath to hold back the hysteria.

“Let me,” Clint said. He shimmied out of his jeans and boxers and lined himself up with Coulson. “Lube, top pocket,” he said. Coulson muttered “Boy Scout,” under his breath as he handed the tub over and then made no sounds other than breathy moans as he watched Clint's hand moving over both their cocks. It was messy and awkward and neither of them was in a completely comfortable position, but none of that mattered when Coulson came, biting down on Clint's shoulder to stop himself shouting the place down. Coulson pointedly ignored the smug look on Clint's face and leaned forward to kiss him through his own orgasm.

Thoroughly wrung out they barely managed to clean themselves before deciding, without needing to use any words, that everything else they needed to do could wait until the morning.

* * * * *

It took longer than it should have for Coulson to realise that it was his phone ringing that had woken him. He smiled into the darkness as Clint handed it to him.

“Coulson...Wait, who, Fitz? Fitz, I have no idea what you're saying. What's happened to Simmons?...” Coulson went very still and Clint sat up and turned on the light.

“Phil?”

“We're leaving now,” Coulson said into the phone and hung up.

Clint took one look at Coulson's face and hopped out of the bed. “I'm coming with you.”

Coulson nodded, attention still fixed somewhere else entirely.

“That bad?” Clint asked.

“Skye, god, I need to find Skye. And May. I don't...” He turned to look at Clint. “I didn't tell you everything. About Gonzalez and his ship.”

Clint didn't bother to look surprised. “The Director of SHIELD needs to keep secrets. I'm okay with that. Mostly. But if this is as bad as your expression makes it look, I need to know everything.”

“We need to find Skye first,” Coulson said. “I don't want to have to explain twice.”

“Okay,” Clint said. “Guess our vacation's over, huh?” He looked more resigned than anything and Coulson wished, just for a moment, that their lives could be ordinary and boring and filling in tax returns was the only frustrating thing they ever faced.

“I meant what I said,” Coulson told him. “It wasn't just the heat of the moment or whatever else you've already convinced yourself it was.” He moved so he was standing in front of Clint, heart pounding. “I love you. And I'm glad you're here with me.”

Clint looked like he'd been caught in headlights and Coulson took pity on him. “I just wanted you to know. Before I could do something stupid like save the world again.”

He turned away and grabbed his phone from where he'd dropped it, pressing the speed dial for Skye. Clint pressed a kiss to his bare shoulder and started rifling through Coulson's bag. They both knew that Coulson was going to need help getting dressed, and once again he found himself worrying about how he was going to do his job in his present state when Skye’s voice brought him crashing back down to the present.

“Skye...yes, I know what time it is. _Skye_. It's Jemma.”

As he relayed Fitz's message, the full ramifications of which he knew he wouldn't fully understand until he saw it for himself, he at least felt confident that his team would face it just like every other crisis, together. He hoped he didn't need to tell them that they were like family, that he hadn't been this close to anyone he'd worked with since Clint and Nat and he'd do anything he could to protect them.

But, as Clint slowly helped him dress, he thought maybe he did need to tell them, just once. He'd made a lot of calls he regretted lately but it wasn't in his nature to do or say nothing, not when he could make a difference. Maybe he needed to talk to them more, keep them less in the dark. He trusted them with his life, maybe trusting them with his secrets would be a greater show of faith. Just as he hoped trusting Clint with his heart would show how much it meant that Clint was facing this new threat with him.

“Phil,” Clint said, interrupting his thoughts, “we need to go. And for the record, I'm here as long as you want me.”

Phil smiled and nodded, but Skye was knocking at the door so he didn't have the chance to do anything more than that.

He felt guilty then, the start of something he'd been lacking in his life for years coming at the moment when Simmons was most in need, and so he vowed to put all feelings aside, just for the time being. His team needed Director Coulson's laser focus, not Phil's heart on his sleeve, and that's exactly what they were going to get.


End file.
